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Flash Gordon---Series Premiere 90 minutes 8/10/07 SciFi

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Flash Gordon---Series Premiere 90 minutes 8/10/07 SciFi

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Old 08-10-07 | 12:51 PM
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Flash Gordon---Series Premiere 90 minutes 8/10/07 SciFi

Debuts tonight on the SciFi Channel. I wonder if it will be as cheesy as the 1980 movie or the old serials.

Synopsis:

Spoiler:
Debut: A small-town athlete is thrust into sci-fi adventures in this series based on the cult hero of vintage comic strips and old movie serials. First up: Flash and Dale Arden must locate a mysterious device and keep it out of the hands of the alien dictator Ming.
Old 08-10-07 | 02:00 PM
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Crap. That means no Doctor Who repeat tonight I guess. I will stick around after it to watch what will undoubtedly be cheesy goodness!
Old 08-10-07 | 02:10 PM
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So they are jumping right in? No back story? What about the four TDs he scored in the state finals?
Old 08-10-07 | 02:14 PM
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I've got the DVR all ready to grab this. looks interesting.
Old 08-10-07 | 02:50 PM
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Anyone still alive from the original serial that could possibly make a cameo?
Old 08-10-07 | 02:52 PM
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Actually I read that Sam Jones, who played Flash from the 1980 movie will make a guest appearance this season.
Old 08-10-07 | 02:55 PM
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Originally Posted by DJariya
Actually I read that Sam Jones, who played Flash from the 1980 movie will make a guest appearance this season.
Will he be wearing (or should I say NOT wearing) his Playgirl costume?
Old 08-10-07 | 04:02 PM
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It will also be airing on Universal HD this weekend....
Old 08-10-07 | 04:17 PM
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Originally Posted by N2DVD
It will also be airing on Universal HD this weekend....
I gotta get HD service.

I've heard mixed things on this, but I'll definitely check out the first few.
Old 08-10-07 | 04:30 PM
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It may be bad, but it'll be bad in hi-def, mon...
Old 08-10-07 | 09:34 PM
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Well that was kinda boring. Just screamed low budget. Especially all the shots in the woods, just reminded me of low budget Asian shows/movies. And Dresden got canned?
Old 08-10-07 | 10:10 PM
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Flash won't be on my "must see TV" list.

Just saw it and gave up within the first 30 minutes. Why did they even bother? Even cheese would have been preferable to this stale cracker.

And don't get me started on Ming. That was just wrong.

Really...for all that was accomplished storywise (or anything-wise, for that matter), this could (and should) have been edited down to 15 minutes. What a drag.

Thinking about it, maybe 10 to 15 minute episodes is the way to do Flash. A throwback to the old Buster Crabbe cliffhanger serials. Save all that location shoot money (even in Canada it can't be all that cheap), do it all green screen and use the saved money for makeup and decent CGI FX.

Last edited by Jon2; 08-10-07 at 10:13 PM.
Old 08-10-07 | 10:39 PM
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Well, I thought it was a bit better than Painkiller Jane. Not sure if I'll keep watching though.
Old 08-10-07 | 11:14 PM
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I heard it sucked.. I am not interested.

Jacob
Old 08-11-07 | 01:49 AM
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Horrible. Every contrivance in the book. Horrible script and bad acting.
Farscape did it much better.
Thanks a lot Sci Fi.
Old 08-11-07 | 08:35 AM
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Wow the acting was terrible.
Old 08-11-07 | 08:47 AM
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That was not good

The dialog was very stilted and unnatural in parts....like a really bad, not even cheesy, attempt at this.

I couldn't believe the whole 'Ming' character that they made. I'm sure the guy playing him was doing his best to work with what he had been given...which obviously wasn't much. The Ming character in this was totally unimposing...nothing like what Ming the Merciless is supposed to be.

Hot chicks though.

This 'reimagining' trend with movies. tv shows, etc has just got to stop...it is ruining properties and forever leaving people with distorted, bad ideas of how certain properties really are.

I would second the "serialized" suggestion of short episodes interspersed amongst regular programming.
Old 08-11-07 | 10:30 AM
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What the hell were they looking for? The IMAX? I hate these shows that apparently don't take place in a world remotely similar to our own in real life. He's running around asking if people know what the IMAX is and nobody directs him to a MOVIE THEATER???

Seriously, it just took me out of it. Either throw in a nice gag like that or change the name of the damn device he's looking for.
Old 08-11-07 | 02:35 PM
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Looks like Sci Fi has a hit on their hands based on the thread topics in their Flash Gordon Forum:


"That was truly awful"

"Do you think Sci Fi will show all 11 episodes or just cancel it?"

"MST3K's Final Sacrifice + Stargate SG1 = SciFi Channel's Flash Gordon TV show, Booooo! Boooooooooo! Hissss! Boooooo!"

"SCI FI what is wrong with you?"

"Really Bad Show, Sci-fi..."

"100 reasons to hate the new Flash"

"WTF?"

"This is a horrible show"

"That's 90 minutes of my life that I will never get back."

"Just finished watching Flash,.., Short review. "
Old 08-11-07 | 03:01 PM
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Didn't like it either. For all the reasons listed above.

Makes me want to redeem myself by running out and buy the "Savior of the Universe" edition and watch that instead.
Old 08-11-07 | 03:58 PM
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I usually try to see the potential of a show when I watch the pilot, and realize that not everything is solidified just yet. That said, I didn't see any potential.

The idea of moving at will between Earth and Mongo takes out all the danger and drive of the show - where's the drama if you can go home and be safe whenever you want, like a do-over?

It's just a big, drab, un-fun mess, down to its bland cinematography. As cheesy as the 1980 film was, they at least conveyed some drama and got the original setup down. But, since SciFi doesn't want spaceships anymore...
Old 08-11-07 | 04:14 PM
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What the hell were they looking for? The IMAX?
The iMex -- Apple's latest portable music player designed especially for the Latin American market.

But come on, Ming was about as villainous as the aliens-who-aren't-Asians--really-even-though-they-talk-like-Fu-Manchu in The Phantom Menace. And what's the point of Flash Gordon without space ships, and where most of the show takes place on Earth?
Old 08-11-07 | 04:20 PM
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I want these kind of spaceships!

Old 08-11-07 | 04:44 PM
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So it was that bad huh? So I should just delete it from my DVR and forget about it then? I saw that SciFI ordered 22 episodes...does anyone think it will make it there?

Some guys here have mentioned that Painkiller Jane is bad, but I actually really like that show. Kristanna Loken is nice to look at and there's some good action in that show despite that bad acting.
Old 08-11-07 | 05:32 PM
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Originally Posted by calhoun07
What the hell were they looking for? The IMAX? I hate these shows that apparently don't take place in a world remotely similar to our own in real life. He's running around asking if people know what the IMAX is and nobody directs him to a MOVIE THEATER???

Seriously, it just took me out of it. Either throw in a nice gag like that or change the name of the damn device he's looking for.
They were looking for the Imex, not Imax. The "gag" was that it was Flash's father's watch, which was a Timex. For whatever reason, Ming didn't see the T" in the word. Figured that out early on myself. In any case, I agree that this show is bad. I'm a big fan of the Sam Jones movie and came away very, very disappointed by this episode. Hopefully it will get better, but some things that make it bad (e.g. Ming and the acting) aren't likely to change...


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